Football transfer rumours: Mario Balotelli to Paris St-Germain?

Monday, November 19th, 2012 at
2:28 pm

Do nothing till you hear from today's tell-all

Mario Balotelli's slide down the Manchester City pecking order has fuelled plenty of speculation about his future. The Italian hasn't started a match for the Premier League champions since early this month, prompting rumours that he may be surplus to requirements at the Etihad Stadium and could be sold during the January transfer window. Paris Saint-Germain and both Milan clubs are believed to be eager to secure his services, while Julian Fellowes has also expressed an interest in casting the 22-year-old Italian striker as an underbutler and love interest for the Rt Hon Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham in the next series of Downton Abbey.

According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United will offer "what it takes" to bring the Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha to Old Trafford. "I think about the Premier League all the time, wondering when I'm going to come up against better defenders," said the confident teenager in his first major newspaper interview, expressing the kind of sentiments likely to earn him regular shoeings from opposition full-backs and centre-halves for as long as he remains with Championship leaders Crystal Palace. But with Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur both rumoured to be after Zaha's signature, Ferg will need to come up with a mouthwatering financial package to lure the young tyro north of the Watford gap.

Speaking of confident footballers, Nicklas Bendtner has hinted that he'd happily move to Tottenham Hotspur if they were interested in breaking him out of Arsenal. Currently on loan at Juventus, Bendtner is struggling to make an impression having failed to score in just seven appearances (six as a substitute) for the Serie A champions and clearly has his eye on a move elsewhere in January. The amiable Dane has told website bold.dk that "history is filled with examples of players moving between rival clubs and I can't rule out clubs due to where I might have been in the past", which is a bit rum coming from a man who last made a big impression at a London club when he was ushered out of Boujis in Kensington after drowning his sorrows there in the wake of the 2009 Champions League semi-final.

The Liverpool chairman Tom Werner has responded to speculation that Juventus are preparing a January bid for Luis Suárez by announcing that the scurrying Uruguayan goal-getter will not be sold any time soon. "He's a beautiful player to watch and, as a Liverpool fan, I hope I'm watching him for many years to come," said Werner in the wake of his side's 3-0 smiting of Wigan Athletic on Saturday. "We made a long-term contract with him in the summer and we are going to see a lot of play at Liverpool," he added, flicking metaphorical V-signs at all those journalists who've been attempting to undermine his club by reporting stuff they've heard in newspapers and on websites.

Assuming Suárez does stay at Anfield, he may have to scooch up in the dressing room to make room for Villarreal striker Giuseppe Rossi. Currently recovering from his second major cruciate ligament injury, the Italian international would be available on the cheap as Villarreal need to get him off their books and he won't be fit until March at the earliest. Inter are also believed to be monitoring the situation.

And finally, the Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has taken time out from preparing for Monday night's crucial match against West Ham to tell both Leeds United and Huddersfield Town that no matter how nicely they ask, they can't borrow out-of-favour strikers Kenwyne Jones or Cameron Jerome ahead of Thursday's deadline for loan signings. "We've had loads of clubs come in for Cammy and Kenwyne, but we want to keep them," Pulis told the Stoke Sentinel. "There's only really Mama [Sidibe] we might let go because he's not in our 25-man squad anyway."